Try to survive
by Optimus Maximus
Summary: This is about a different group of students who wanted to escape Heavenly Host Elementary. The story takes place years before Corpse Party takes place.
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1**_

"_Help me."_

It seemed impossible that only seconds, hours, minutes or maybe even days ago, Suzume Akahoshi was chatting with her friends, fixing up the haunted house for the culture festival and trying not to get the others to argue with each other.

How did she get here? How did she get trapped in this rotting hellhole that the spirits around her had called a school?

"_Somebody please help."_

She had grown tired of walking, searching for anyone that wasn't dead or rotting away in the corner. She missed all of her friends. She missed Ami Yamamoto, her best friend, _so much._ She would've given anything to be with any of the six students that came here with her. Sadly enough, they probably weren't even in the same dimension as she was.

The ghost she encountered when she had first awoken had told her she couldn't find her friends, no matter how hard she looked. Apparently, they were trapped in a series of closed spaces, and to find each other, they had to figure out a way to move from one closed space to another.

How complicated.

She shouldn't have believed that to find each other was hopeless. She needed hope in this place, so much hope, just to figure out how to escape. She couldn't lose herself and be found as a rotting corpse years later like the other unfortunate souls.

"_I beg you, please help me._"

She had searched through so many classrooms, only to find messages left behind by the dead or the dead themselves. Not one living soul had been seen throughout the places she had traveled through.

All she wanted now was to go home. Why was there no ray of hope available to her? She needed hope. She needed her friends. She needed a living being.

But it was that same need of hope that made her enter a classroom that looked entirely different from the others. Her eyes searched through the room, and spotted a key sitting on top of the teacher's table, with a little ghost boy sitting close to it, weeping.

The key was what she needed. She had to get it, and hopefully find someone in the room that the key opened the lock to.

But the weeping spirit….

He was bathed in a red light, and she suddenly felt scared of him. All the spirits she had encountered were covered in blue light, and they were nice to her, pitiful of her current situation.

"_Someone help me, please."_

Suzume was startled to hear the boy suddenly speak. She slowly walked over to the edge of the room, cautious of the spirit. The girl really didn't want to go anywhere near him, but she was terribly desperate to find anyone. And her desperation of company outweighed her fright of the that was glowing red.

She quickly grabbed the keys from the table and started to run away from the spirit, who had now looked up and taken notice of her.

"_Are you going to help me?_"

Suzume chose not to reply, and continued to run towards the door. _I'm almost there, _she thought to herself, glad that nothing bad happened to her yet. She then slammed the door behind her, and entered another classroom, hoping that anyone would be there.

"Is anyone here?" she called out, her voice echoing throughout the room. There was nothing but silence replying to her question. _Of course no one's here. _She thought to herself, and was about to leave the room when she heard a groan.

"Ugh….my head…..wait…what the…? Where the hell am I?" Suzume recognized the voice immediately; it was one of her classmates, Ryoko Takeda! "Takeda-san!" she yelled, and ran over to the other girl in the room. Her arms were quickly wrapped around Ryoko's neck, and were removed as quickly as they appeared.

"Whoa, Akahoshi. Before you get all emotional, would you please tell me where I am." Suzume's newfound classmate said, quite annoyed. "We're in Heavenly Host Elementary school, which is filled with corpses and ghosts. We have to-" Suzume replied, but was cut off by the sound of the door creaking open and the lock clicking.

"What-what was that?" Ryoko stuttered, grabbing Suzume's hand, shivering. "I don't know. But I think we're locked in." she replied, trying to force the door open.

"_You should've helped me."_

Suzume froze instantly at the voice of the spirit she had seen in the other room. "Takeda-san. You asked where we were, didn't you? And I said there were ghosts here. If you don't believe me, the proof is probably right behind me." She stated, her voice full of fear as a red glow suddenly appeared in between the two girls.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: By the way, this is my first fanfiction, so please don't be too critical about my writing. I still have to get used to this. I also might not be able to update frequently, since my internet sucks really bad. Thanks, and enjoy.

_**Chapter 2**_

The spirit threw itself at its target, its face glowing with anger that was clearly directed to the green eyed brunette. He took no notice of Ryoko Takeda, who had fled to the door, trying to force it open. "Akahoshi! I need your help! I can't get it open!" she yelped, aware of the fact that the other girl was on the opposite side of the room. Suzume wanted to mutter something sarcastically, but couldn't due to the fact that a vengeful ghost was trying to kill her. Instead, she dodged it just barely and ran as fast as she could, bumping into several tables and chairs, knocking them over. Just as she almost reached the door, her leg caught on a broken chair and she tripped, her face implanting with the ground hard, but at least not hard enough to draw blood. She scrambled to get up as her companion tried to help her, but fell back down as soon as she felt hands-nails, to be precise, digging into the skin of her ankles.

She let out a pained scream as she felt a warm, sticky substance ooze down her ankles. Blood. _"This is what you deserve for killing Saya-chan, Suzume." _The ghost hissed from behind her, digging his nails into her skin harder, leaving her screaming in agony. The other girl desperately tried to pull her classmate away from the glowing red boy.

Suzume felt as if someone was pulling her apart. Technically, she was being pulled, by Ryoko and by the ghost who thought she was someone else who also had the name as her. She hated the pain, wanted it to go away, wanted to die. If death stopped the pain, it was worth it. Her vision was getting blurry, and the boy's nails felt like knives, digging into her skin and trying to cut to the bone. "Kill me." She whispered in agony to the girl in front of her. Ryoko shivered and pulled harder, causing the brunette to scream at her to kill her, she didn't want this pain, and she wanted to die. "_If that's what you really want, I'll do it." _The boy cackled, and raised a hand to squeeze her neck slowly and painfully.

But, for some reason, he suddenly stopped, let go of Suzume's legs and stared at the door, looking terrified of whatever could be outside. "_She's coming! She's there!"_ he spoke, and disappeared from the room. Both girls looked uncertainly at the door.

"Let's not go outside. I'll tend to your wounds first." Ryoko shakily muttered, and took one of Suzume's legs. She almost fainted. Her ankles were covered in blood, and she saw a tiny bit of white peeking out of the broken skin. The ghost had actually dug into her ankles so deep, that bone showed. She gave out a whimper, and tore a part of her sleeve off to make a tourniquet around the other girl's legs. She whipped out her handkerchief and began to clean out the blood that had come out from the wound, biting her lip. The small piece of cloth was almost completely red, and she still had to clean the girl's other leg. Tears leaked out from Suzume's eyes. "I want to go home." She whispered weakly. Ryoko said nothing, only nodded as she began to tend to Suzume's other leg.

"Can you stand?" she asked, holding out her hand to her wounded classmate. "I think so." She replied immediately, but winced as she got up on her feet. "Lean on me, I'll walk you to the infirmary. There is one, right? There's gotta be. I'm not done with your injuries."Ryoko rambled, still wary of going outside of the room. Suzume nodded weakly. She had passed the infirmary earlier, but it was locked. Maybe the key she had received from the room next to the one they were in was the key to the infirmary.

The two headed outside the room, the door now unlocked, and caught sight of a girl in an old fashioned red dress. She turned away from the pair, and disappeared into the darkness of the halls. "Hey! Wait!" Ryoko yelled after her, but they didn't see her return. "She dropped something." Suzume observed, pointing at a withered piece of paper on the ground. It was part of a newspaper article, and contained 4 photos of children who had died in this very school, Heavenly Host Elementary. Their names were Sachiko Shinozaki, Ryou Yoshizawa, Tokiko Tsuji and Yuki Kanno. "Hey, that's the girl we just saw." The injured girl said, pointing at the name Sachiko Shinozaki. "But, it says here Sachiko survived. Why is she here, as a little girl?" Ryoko questioned, thinking that maybe Sachiko died in an accident when she got older. But that didn't explain why she was haunting this school. "Beats me, but I think we should get to the infirmary. They don't matter. We have to get out of here." The shorter girl answered, only worried about the fact that they should never have done that stupid Sachiko ever after charm with her friends. She believed that the charm was the thing that caused them to come here, since a ghost admitted that he did the charm with his friends. And Naoki wasn't even their friend. He had to get dragged into this just because Ami "didn't want him to feel left out". And now, just because of her, he was suffering through seeing dead bodies, bloody walls and death messages. Poor guy.

Suzume and Ryoko arrived at the infirmary, and Suzume put the key inside the lock and turned the doorknob. Finally. She could rest, and sleep and forget about this whole place, even if it was just for a little while. But her thoughts were interrupted by sounds of children playing and laughing and singing. The two looked at each other, scared. "Let's..not go in there. "Ryoko mumbled. Suzume nodded in reply, terrified of what could happen inside. But then they heard two very familiar voices. Voices of the other people who were trapped here, Ami, Suzume's best friend, and Naoki, the rude boy who no one in the group that came here liked.

"Ami!" Suzume exclaimed, and ran into the room, only to find Sachiko, Ryou, Tokiko and Yuki laughing and dancing around the dead bodies of Ami and Naoki.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3**_

"Listen to me, Yamamoto. Akahoshi is fine. Just because you heard her scream your name and mine doesn't necessarily mean she's in any danger. Maybe she saw a dead body and worried about us, and screamed our names. Okay? She's fine, and we'll find her. We'll find Takeda, Kotanabe and Yokoyama. Then we'll get the hell out of here. We'll pretend this never happened and never speak of this again. Now stop crying."

Naoki Shinozaki and Ami Yamamoto were sitting on the floor of the classroom 1-A, Ami crying, Naoki comforting her. "Su-Suzume-chan s-sounded like she was cr-c-crying! A-a-and she used your first name no one ever uses your first name!" she stuttered, sobbing hard as Naoki patted her back twice. "Hey, listen. She's going to be alright. We all are. Just stop crying already. It's not going to do anything." He comforted her, handing her a handkerchief for the snot dribbling down her nose. "I-I'm sorry, Shinozaki-kun. I'm just so scared right now and I'm so worried about Suzume, Takeda-san, Mizuki and Yokoyama-kun. "She sniffed, blowing her nose into the checkered hanky that her classmate gave her. "Hey. I'm scared too, okay? I want to go home, and see Mi-tan and Noe-tan again. They must be worrying about me. Why I'm not home yet. Especially Mi-tan, she said she had a surprise for me and would give it to me when I came home. And Noe-tan probably needs help with her homework again, and she can't ask Mom or Dad, since they suck at helping her…" he sighed and leaned back against the wall, thinking about his family. He was supposed to come home at 7. What time was it now? You could never tell in here. "I'm…sorry. "she apologized again, not sure why this time. "Don't be. It's not your fault."Naoki replied, looking miserable.

The pair had woken up in another classroom and began to walk around the school. When Ami and Naoki had first seen a dead body gutted, its insides spilling out of its stomach, Ami had screamed and ran away to the classroom they were in now. She had begun to feel better, but then, she heard her best friend's shrill scream echo throughout the school, and the worst part about it was that she had screamed, "Ami! Naoki! No!" They had been in the room for a long time, with Naoki sitting beside Ami and comforting her while she sobbed.

"Come on. We should go already. If you don't want to go with me, I'll go by myself. We can meet up here." The tall boy mumbled, his thoughts on his sisters and his parents. Ami stood up as well, sniffing, "You can't go alone. You'll get hurt and never come back here and leave me here to rot." "Optimistic as ever. "He muttered dryly under his breath. The two exited the room, trying not to stare at the corpse next to the door. They kept walking until they heard a child's laugh right outside of the infirmary.

They heard more screaming, and this time, it wasn't only Suzume, but also Ryoko's scream. Ami gave out an audible whimper, and Naoki squeezed her hand in an effort to say "It'll be alright." The screams came from inside the infirmary, and the two stood outside of it, not sure what to expect inside. The boy reached for the doorknob, but he was pushed back by an unseen force, and there was a ghost bathed in a blue light standing in front of him, holding out her hand, as if telling the boy to stop. "Shinozaki-kun..!" Ami cried, reaching for her classmate.

"Don't go in there." The ghost spoke, as Ami helped her classmate up from the ground. "Your friends aren't in there. There's no point. "it continued. Naoki stood up and faced the spirit. "What do you mean they aren't in there? We just heard them. They have to be in there." He replied, staring at the ghost of a young girl in pigtails and a grade school uniform. "No, they're not in there. Even if you did hear their voices, they're not in here, because this place is a series of closed spaces. They're in a different one, and there are barriers separating all of these closed spaces. The only way you can see them is if you find a way to bring them into yours or go into theirs, and that's never been done on purpose. Sachiko is the one who sends you into a different closed space to torture the people you're with and to leave them alone. That's why senpai left me here to starve." Ami sobbed quietly, biting her lip. She would never see Suzume again. She would die here with Naoki. She would never hear her best friend's corny jokes that always managed to make her laugh, or get annoyed at how she always used to leave early.

"We have to try. We can't escape this place without them. We can't leave them here to die." The boy answered, aware of what the girl behind him was crying about. "You can't escape here, but I sure would like to see you try. It would be fun if you did. Maybe it won't only be living people who can escape, but spirits too. Maybe I can finally stop feeling the pain of being buried alive…" And on that note, the ghost disappeared. The two exchanged nervous glances, and decided to go inside.

Naoki pushed open the infirmary door and entered. This place was ten times creepier than it was outside. He got the feeling that someone was inside with him, watching his every move, prepared to grab a weapon and stab the pair while their defenses were down. Ami entered the room after him, and shuddered. "I'm scared..." she whispered, looking around for any signs of Suzume and Ryoko. The room showed no signs of life besides Ami and Naoki.

The slightly older boy noticed beds at the corner of the room and pointed them out to Ami, asking if she wanted to rest for a while. She ran towards them and jumped onto the one nearest to the corner, sighing happily. "Strange how these beds are really clean. Expected them to be dustier." She muttered to herself. Naoki sat down at the edge of the bed and sighed.

"Hey, Shinozaki-kun. Tell me about your sisters. You seem like the kind of brother who would do anything for them." Ami said, breaking the silence between them. "I would do anything for them. They can't handle things very well. I have a 15 year old sister, and her name is Hinoe. My younger sister is Ayumi, and right now, she's just 5. Mi-tan gets scared easily, and Noe-tan gets bullied because her classmates think she's too obsessed with supernatural things." Naoki began to talk about his younger sisters and what he felt about them, not stopping when his classmate stopped giving signs that she heard him. After a few minutes, the boy looked back and wasn't surprised to find Ami asleep.

He sighed and lay down on the bed, hands behind his head, listening for any sound or scream inside the room and heard nothing. Naoki stared at the withering ceiling, and felt his eyelids drooping. He was tired, and he would wake Ami up in a while and resume searching for Suzume, Ryoko, Keisuke and Mizuki. In a while he was half asleep, his eyes closed, but still able to hear what was going on around him. Not that there was anything to hear.

And suddenly, he heard a timid sob from outside the infirmary and instantly snapped his eyes open. "Aniiki? Help me..."The voice echoed, continuing to sob. The boy sat up once he recognized his sister's voice. "Is that you, Noe-tan? What are you doing here?" he replied. _It could be a trap. But I have to go and check._ Naoki exited the room and saw a girl who looked like his sister crying. The girl ran, and he ran after her, leaving Ami alone in the infirmary.

And when she woke up, she was surrounded by child spirits, with a black figure standing in the center of the room.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: If anyone was reading this, I'm sorry if I didn't update since last year. I've just been busy with life and all. I suddenly remembered this fanfic, and it's my summer now, so I can update a lot more, yay!

_**Chapter**_ _**4**_

Ami's first instinct was to scream. But she couldn't. Her entire body had frozen out of fear and she could not move, no matter how hard she tried.

The ghost children around her beamed. The blonde girl tried not to focus on the how some of them were so horribly injured that their inner organs were hanging out of their bodies. "Onee-chan, play with us!" a young ghost boy grinned. Part of his face had been brutally hacked off, and Ami cowered away from him as he held onto the her arm. "Yeah! Play with us!" the others urged, crowding around her. The dark figure just stood in the center of the infirmary, not moving or doing anything as the children moved towards the girl on the bed.

"Onee-chan!"

"Please play with us!"

"It'll be fun! We can play hide and seek!"

"Onee-chan, we can play anything you want!"

"Be our friend!"

"Come on, pleeeaaaase?"

Ami covered her ears and closed her eyes, trying hard not to listen to the ghost children as they pleaded with her to play with them. _It's just a nightmare. It's just a nightmare_. _Wake up, Ami. Wake up_. She thought. Once she opened her eyes, she was staring into the face of the ghost boy who had first asked her to play with them. His eyes were wide, and the girl could clearly see the muscles beneath his skin. "Play with us now, or Sachiko will force you to." he said, his eyes widening even more at the name 'Sachiko'. It was then that Ami screamed, and all the children stiffened when they heard her shriek.

The dark figure took steps closer to the girl. "Sachi has been sending me children again," it spoke, and the ghost children around it scattered. They were clearly afraid of the shadow-like being. "But I'm still lonely. I need my little Sachi." The figure stopped at the foot of the bed, and leaned towards Ami menacingly. "You are going to hurt her. I would never let anyone hurt my Sachi." it said, and the girl on the bed began to choke. The essence of the shadowy being filled her mouth, and she was being suffocated.q She tried to move, but the figure held her in place, intent on killing the blonde teenager.

She screamed. The problem was that the scream was muffled, and even more of the essence was forced into her throat. Tears flowed from her eyes, and she could breathe no longer. A few more seconds would be enough to kill her. She recalled the ghost that had been in front of the infirmary, and wished that Naoki hadn't taken the ghost's warning for granted. She closed her eyes, and prepared for her death.

But suddenly the doors slammed open, and the shadowy being disappeared, taking all of the ghost children with it. Ami took a deep breath, and coughed violently. She then moved towards the wall and sobbed, hugging her knees. "...Y-Yamamoto...? Wh-what's wrong...?" Naoki said after listening to his classmate sob for a bit, startling her. She looked up and ran towards the boy, hugging him as tight as she could, crying into his shirt. He just stood there, shocked. What had happened?

"Naoki-kun, t-take me out of here." she sniffed, surprising him with the use of his first name. He walked out of the infirmary with Ami still latched onto him. _This is totally not awkward_. He thought to himself. She let go and collapsed against the wall, crying even harder. "C-c-can we get out of here, Naoki? I want to go home..." Naoki moved closer to Ami and ruffled her hair gently. "How about we find the others first? I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want to leave them behind. As soon as we find them, we'll go home, okay?" he said comfortingly. She nodded in reply and gave him a grateful smile. He pulled her up when she stopped crying, and told her that they had to move on. Ami was hesitant to go, but she thought of Suzume and was determined to find her best friend.

"Oh, Naoki, where were you?" Ami said, once she had calmed down completely. The boy simply stared at her. He stopped walking, and unnerved her with his piercing gaze. "W-what? What did I do?" she said nervously, trying to laugh it off. He said nothing in reply, just shook his head and kept staring at her.

"You don't need to know." he said coldly, and Ami noticed something red on his hand. "Nao-Naoki, you're creeping me out. What happened? What's that on your hand?" he didn't answer, and began to walk. She saw his hand slide into the pocket of his pants, and discovered what the red thing covering his hand entirely was.

It was blood.

Without thinking, Ami ran.


End file.
